Need Time Capsule Advice

[Alucardx03]

I've been considering a Time Capsule lately. I've read almost every TC thread on MR, and they're all very bipolar. It seems that many will hate the TC, while just as many love it. I've also read many reviews that are the same. So, I'm wondering if some of you can share your TC experiences. Have you had many negative experiences? Have the Apple updates done anything to improve your stability and decrease the frequency of backup errors?

As a little background, here's my situation: I already have an 802.11n router, but it is currently operating on 2.4gHz. I was thinking of picking up the 500gb TC and using it as a wireless print server, as well as wireless Time Machine backups. I would also connect a 750gb Western Digital USB hard drive, which would hold DV footage, as well as 50gb worth of pictures. This way, my parents can access the pictures from their Windows PC upstairs. I would set the TC to 5gHz so I could operate both bands and be able to connect to the 2.4gHz with my older wireless gadgets.

 

[coopermac]

I have had my 500g TC for almost a year and overall it does what it says on the box but there are limitations.

I found that positioning of the TC is paramount to it's wireless efficiency. Both the 2.4 and 5gig N only wireless is not as robust as my a/b/g Netgear wireless router. The 5 gig setting has a very poor range through walls.

There is a loss of speed to the internet when it is doing back ups and it needs a power cycle reboot at times if you allow automatic regular TM backups. I now do weekly manual back ups of my MBP and Mini which has solved this problem.

A USB printer or HDD connected to it works well with Macs but the printer is not so good with Windows and Linux.

I have tried many permutations and settings using my equipment and currently use it connected in bridge mode (2.4 n only) to my Netgear a/b/g router. It also transmits wirelessly to an Airport Express which currently has my USB printer and Linux desktop (via ethernet) connected to that.

I still think it's good piece of kit but I bought it primarily for the N router and easy back up using TM. If you already have an N router perhaps you should consider a NAS of some kind for backups as it might give you more flexibility with potentially less cost too.

 

[FarSeide]

I had my 1TB TC for the past 10 months and I couldnt be happier.

I currently have Canon printer hooked up to my TC so that anyone using the TC wireless N network can print to it. I also have LinkSys router running only G so that my iPhone, PS, Wii and others that don't have the N can connect to it.

I havent had any issues at all and I'm extremely happy with the product. I have Time Machine running on the TC and the speed is pretty good as well.

I hope that helps.

 

[Xenious]

My TC has been fantastic. I currently backup a Mac Pro and a Macbook to it. I bought the 500gig near launch and am just now creeping up to 420gig utilization. It replaced my 11n Airport Extreme and I only use it as a wireless bridge (I have a Cisco PIX I use for my firewall). For me it is "backup and forget" where I just setup Time Machine and let it do its thing.

I had one issue where the TC was not responding after I came home from a trip. When I restarted it the power light would not come on nor did it respond. I had a Genius appointment the next day to get it looked at. I had it unplugged until that time. Once I arrived at the Apple store it was working fine. Genius said it could have just needed to sit unplugged for a few minutes to clear whatever was locking it up.

I've had no repeat of that issue, but it did make me concerned as to what happens if your TC dies and you need the data on the hard drive. I assume you would have to extract it yourself and copy the data, but I do not know what it would do to your warranty.
-Jim

 

[nplima]

Hi,

I just saw a competing product from Linksys that would definitely consider if I were on the market for NAS:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158623

 

[KnightWRX]

Hi,

I just saw a competing product from Linksys that would definitely consider if I were on the market for NAS:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158623

Except NAS can't be used as backup destinations in Time Machine.

Personnally, I have AEBS with a Lacie USB as an airdisk that is seen by TM. The AEBS is unflexible in it's configuration options if you're not going to use it as a all-in-one device. My DHCP is running off a Sun server, and I wanted to use the AEBS as a router/AP. Apple's utility doesn't permit that type of configuration because as soon as you turn on NAT, you have to use the provided DHCP.

I didn't like the trick of limiting the DHCP range on the AEBS and having it give out all it's leases with an extra long lease time, so I just disabled everything, set it to be a AP only, and use my PIX 501 as my Internet facing gateway instead.

 

[jonbravo77]

Except NAS can't be used as backup destinations in Time Machine.

Actually it can be, though it's unsupported. Open Terminal and put in defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

Mount the NAS drive you want to back up to and go to TM Preferences and choose it. Many people are doing this and say it works just fine. I have a TC with a external drive but I do show in my TM preferences my NAS drive when it's mounted. Source